Mortal Kombat Of Schemes and Demons
by Blatidae
Summary: This is the first time I've actually uploaded a fanfic to somewhere... so I'm hoping people like it. :
1. Chapter 1

**Legal Stuff: **Sadly, I don't own Mortal Kombat or any of its characters. If I did, I'd probably be a great deal richer and never have to work again. That'd be kind of sweet. I might not own any Mortal Kombat characters, but Licon is well-and-truly a creature of my own creation.

This isn't my first Mortal Kombat fanfiction – but it _is _the first I've actually put on a website/shown anyone. Comments and suggestions are welcome – especially since I'm not sure what kind of story this'll be yet. I'd love to hear from people if they'd like particular characters involved in this. As for when it's set? I'm guessing a bit before the Deadly Alliance computer game.

Anyway, enjoy and I'll look forward to reading reviews, if I get any. :)

CHAPTER ONE

Outworld – it was such a dark, cloying place. It was as malevolent and sinister as hell and probably twice as dangerous. There was that mustiness to the air, that dank fetid smell that seemed totally characteristic of the realm. Across the arid land, something did stir, though. Someone, humanoid in shape if not in overall appearance, made their winding way to a huge building, forking out of the landscape. Even that massive palace itself was dark and hateful, as if the rocks themselves knew just who inhabited it.

The Emperor, Shao Khan.

It was a name that bred fear and apprehension in most who knew it. Those who had the misfortune of actually coming face-to-face with the Emperor himself and survived quickly found themselves in service to him. Baraka was one such servant – and had been for many years now. It undoubtedly confused him as to why he'd been called away from his Tarkatan forces spread around the huge realm to quell risings from the Edenians and several other scattered groups of people. The Emperor didn't much like people conspiring against him. His kind were 'employed' to prevent it.

So… what was all this about?

Across that hideous visage of his, a snarl formed, forced its way from his lipless mouth as a low growl. He was sick of being ordered around, sick of being forced to different areas of Outworld to pursue different vigilantes. It did grow very tedious. Night swirled about like some sort of veil, concealing his approach to the castle. That suited him fine – he always did like trying to sneak past the Shadow Priests despite the fact that it was normally a hopeless cause. Those strange creatures seemed to know the approach of almost anything that came within a mile of the palace. Really, it made sense if you thought about it. There wasn't a chance that they'd let just anyone near the Emperor. It was far easier to just kill anyone that got a little too close.

No matter, though. As his 6ft form slinked its way across the dilapidated, almost rustic, bridge that separated Khan's castle from the mainland, the guarding Priests shot him a look, remained as mute and still as ever, their eyes probing easily through the shadows. A greeting was grumbled to them through the murky haze of night, even though he expected no response. Well… they didn't prevent his entrance into the palace and so he supposed he was expected. He stepped past them, the toughened fabric of his red-and-black clothing rustling lightly as he did.

The palace doors were open, as ever. There was rarely a need to shut them with the kinds of guards this place used. Not just Shadow Priests, of course. Why would they be the only ones? Choice Centaurs and Shokan were also called on to guard the place. Then there was the Zittaran ninja, Reptile. He seemed rarely to stray from the Emperor's side. Reptile was a creep, though, such a slave to the Emperor and Shang Tsung that he no longer seemed to have a mind of his own. Everything was for the good of the Emperor, for the good of Outworld. Did the coward never consider just acting for himself now and again? He supposed not. That was what came when you were probably the last of a rapidly-depleting race. Survival of the creepiest.

A step past those huge doors, nevertheless. Into the cavernous hallway that led in a winding 'S' shape to the throne room where Shao Khan often spent the vast majority of his time when he wasn't participating in the overthrowing of some realm or other. There was no delaying to Baraka's pace, though. It wasn't wise to keep the Emperor waiting. He'd hastened to this godforsaken place as quickly as he could – and he'd like to learn just why he'd rushed all the way here.

Huge doors, this time closed, marked the entrance to the throne room itself. Outside stood a muscular Shokan. A weakling in comparison to the great Goro and Motaro… but formidable, nevertheless. That was the problem with that particular race – knocking one of the bastards down took forever and, sadly, they were usually going to get up again. Yet, at least his race were fortunate in some small degree. Although they weren't really looked all that favourably upon by the other races common in Outworld, they tended to be nomadic enough to not attract too much negative attention. Shokan were normally far more interested in pursuing that little spat they had going with the Centaur. The great four-armed, muscle-bound brute gave no more than a nod of a strangely draconic head, pushing the door open for him with the upper of his left arms.

And they called _his_ kind freaks? Figures.

"Ah, Baraka. Took your time, didn't you?"

The voice, dark and malevolent, swept out to ensnare him, draw him into the elaborately-decorated, candlelit room before he could even think of not entering. The throne room hadn't changed an iota. There were still the gothic pillars adorning the place, useless in placement – just there to look big and foreboding, as far as he'd been able to gather. They didn't really support anything, just lined the way up to the velvet-cushioned throne that Khan perched on. As he stepped in, he noticed that, for once, it wasn't the usual castle wenches that loitered around Khan as they normally did. Instead, two men stood there – one on either side of him. One was easily recognisable as Reptile. There was the Liconer irritating smugness across his scaled-green face, as if he was in some way glad of the Emperor's snappy greeting. Those lizard-like eyes burrowed a hole straight through him, no doubt searching for weapons other than his ever-present blades – something that could count as treachery against Khan. Yes, the Zitarran would just love to see him thrown down into the pits for the rest of eternity – and the Emperor was by no means kind enough to simply kill him. No, the real game was to make you wish for death before granting it to you. That was far more fun – far more of a game. Baraka tore his glare away from the green-clad creature long enough to offer a respectful bow of his head to the Emperor.

"My… apologies… I wasn't nearby…"

He allowed his voice to just cut off. Khan really did hate rambling apologies. Besides, what did he have to apologise for, anyway? He hadn't been nearby and the journey had taken time. It was a miracle he'd made it this far in such a considerably short amount of time. He'd got Khan's message earlier this morning and what was it now? Evening-time? He hadn't made bad time at all.

The Emperor gave a rushed nod of his head, dark eyes glaring through the skull-helmet. It was a hideous trophy. There was no reason at all why it shouldn't actually have been fashioned from a real skull. Baraka had always wondered just who the unfortunate victim was? Must have been someone quite powerful to be fashioned into a piece of armour. Perhaps King Jerrod? Hmm. It was a possibility, he supposed. Nevertheless, Khan seemed excited enough for some probably hideous reason to overlook the time Baraka had taken for now – in order to introduce the other man at his side.

"Yes, yes. No matter. I called you here, Baraka, to introduce you to someone. Reptile's already had the pleasure of meeting him. He's going to help us capture the earth realm. I think I can bend the rules adequately enough to have him destroy Rayden's precious band of mortals and render the realm helpless. Best of all, there's absolutely nothing stopping him entering earth realm under his own power. No one need know that I was behind this. Baraka, meet Licon."

Baraka's cruel gaze turned to the other figure at Shao Khan's right. His first impression was that the creature was tall. He stood at least 9ft in height, easily the match of most Shokan. Yet, the being looked almost human. There was a sweep of long navy-blue hair, eternally dark eyes and a haunting expression on a completely pure-white face. There was just something implicitly wrong about the creature. Something that just didn't sit well with him. There was an odd power to him that seemed to radiate and throb around the place strangely, noticeably.

"…What… is he?"

The question couldn't be held back. This leather-armoured creature couldn't be of a race he'd encountered before. The resulting laugh from the Emperor certainly did little to calm his nerves. On the contrary, it chilled him to the bone. There was a plot going on here – and he got the unnerving feeling that he'd be dragged kicking and screaming into it.

"Just a demon. He's agreed very kindly to help me fulfil my objectives. You're going to take him to earth realm and show him who I want killed. Do you think you can handle that adequately enough, Baraka? If not, I'll strike it down as an instantaneous failure…"

Baraka shook his head, fangs baring in a near-smile. This could be interesting. He was being put in charge of a potentially very powerful demon and being allowed to run with it? It was absolutely perfect. He'd do as Khan suggested for now and later suggest the demon change alliances… or else, he'd accidentally lose him to Quan Chi and Shang Tsung. There were those little mutterings of those two forming an alliance behind the Emperor's back. All very promising possibilities. As for the demon himself? He remained slightly slumped, uncaring that he was in the presence of an Emperor, apparently. A slender eyebrow was quirked lightly, seemingly awaiting Baraka's response. Apparently curious of whether he'd actually dare put himself into this sort of danger. As for the acid ninja? Reptile continued to cast distrusting glances between Baraka and the demon. He could suit himself. Apparently, Reptile didn't have the intelligence to lead this demon anywhere. His loss, Baraka's gain.

"Of course, I'll do as you command, Emperor…"

Another respectful bow that served to hide the further widening smirk that threatened to break out across that Nosferatu-esque face of his. This would be one hell of a ride whichever way the tide turned.

Of course, one thing was certain: earth realm wouldn't know what hit it.


	2. Chapter 2

First, an apology for the previous chapter. As I was re-reading it again, I noticed a few little mistakes. One such was due for me deciding against using one of my characters named Rath in preference to Licon. To remove Rath's name from the document, I had the word processor just find and change all words containing the word 'Rath'. Stupidly, I forgot that the word 'rather' would be included in that. Hence the invention of the wonderful new word 'Liconer'. Once I think of a meaning for it, I shall submit it to the dictionary people. . 

As ever, if there are any suggestions for characters, good or evil, to be included – I'd love to hear from you. :-) I'm not a fan of Baraka, really… so the less time I spend writing with him the better! L

Anyway, I do hope that people enjoyed the last chapter despite that little mistake.

CHAPTER TWO

Liu Kang meandered through the streets of New York, silently relishing the opportunity. Ever since the whole business of Mortal Kombat had entered his life fully, there had been little time to actually continue on with the masquerade of normality that he tried to throw around himself. It wouldn't exactly be beneficial to dub himself the Champion of Mortal Kombat in normal circumstances. Announcing to the world that he, along with several other fighters from in and out the earth realm, had helped save the world from demons and monsters from another realm? Well, you had to agree – it was going to get him thrown in the recesses of a mental institute quite quickly.

Did he ever regret actually participating in the tournaments? In the endless fighting? Of course he didn't. He'd been raised to fight. He was, after all, an ancestor of the great Kung Lao. His very lineage had threads of responsibility entwined in it. It couldn't be helped. Besides, he had a natural talent for what he did – he could hold his own in a battle. What more could he ask then to have the opportunity to fight to protect his home world? It was a bigger opportunity than most people got.

Or most people wanted for that matter.

So, where was he going this hot and sticky June day? Well, to be frank, he had a few things to settle with his landlady. He'd left the Order of Light years ago after his brother's death to flee to America. In settling in the States, he'd taken on residence – an apartment deep in New York. Since Mortal Kombat had stolen him away for quite a number of weeks, he'd have no choice but to face the wrath of Mrs Gregson. It wasn't exactly an enchanting prospect – she was a batty old witch as it was. Nevertheless, the rent was reasonable enough – and she didn't much care what you did or where you went so long as the money was in on time. Sadly, he'd skipped the last three payments accidentally and he fully expected that his apartment had been ransacked and the locks changed in his absence. It was just a good thing he carried the majority of his possessions around with him. She couldn't do too much damage. Hopefully.

The slight summer breeze ran its fingers through his shoulder-length ebony hair as he moved, turned the corner that would present to him the sight of Mrs Gregson's small apartment building. Before that rather decrepit, ramshackle grey-bricked place could even meet his gaze, though, the intruding smell of smoke filled his nose – and the disturbing sound of morbid human curiosity filled his ears. Something deep within stirred, informed him before he even looked round that the disaster would have happened at his apartment block. It wasn't paranoia – it was common sense.

Billowing clouds of smoke, the sound of flames licking at wood and brickwork, the blare of fast-approaching sirens. This couldn't have happened long ago by the looks of it. What the hell had happened? He made his way closer to the group of assembled people, trying to put himself across as a normal concerned passer-by. He did catch one end of a telephone conversation a man a couple of people away was having – but little else.

"Yes… just went up. Well, I suppose I'm a witness… but I didn't see anything… yeah, some big guy went in to try and help survivors out… authorities'll probably be here soon…"

For the time being, Liu stood there dumbfounded. What should he do? Go in and try and help whatever man had gone in before him? Stay here, helpless, and just watch events unfold with the rest of the crowd? He'd never liked just being a pathetic bystander. There was no honour to that. Yet, fire was fire and smoke was smoke. The last thing he needed was to make more work for the emergency services when they got here…

"Liu?"

The surprisingly stern, concerned female voice caught him, forced him to turn round and look for the one who'd spoken. It was no real surprise when the form of Agent Sonya Blade forced her way through the little crowd, looking him up and down with a deep-set frown on her face. From the look of her, she'd expected him be in the building.

"Sonya? What happened here?"

"We're not entirely sure. Kabal went in to see if he could do something. I've been asking around. Apparently the place just erupted. It looks sort of cleanly done. Not the work of any normal arsonist – the flames came on very suddenly as well…"

Liu allowed his eyes to clamp closed in exasperation. There was that unspoken word between them – they both knew it. A single word that clung to the air and taunted them. _Outworlders_. The work of Outworlders. That's what Sonya expected – it had to be if she and Jax were here. The government that knew of Outworld and its planned invasions to the earth had allowed them to set up a nice little group to defend against it. As far as Liu remembered, the ex-Lin Kuei cyborg, Cyrax, was a member last he heard. Then there was a strange newcomer, Hsu Hao. Kabal, though? He'd never heard of his associating too closely with Sonya or Jax's group…

"Why do you think…?"

Sonya shook her head, that blonde ponytail of her swinging at her neck, the frown not disappearing. Liu silenced at the gesture, watched as she sighed, ran her hands down her dark green uniform as she tried to formulate a response. It seemed to take her a few seconds as she averted her gaze every few seconds – as if she wasn't quite sure how to break what she had to say to him. When next she spoke, it was as if she were addressing a child, although her voice was low, whispering despite the screech of ambulances and fire engines close by, their sirens still screaming. It really was quite a chore to actually hear her correctly.

"Liu… you're the Champion of Mortal Kombat. This place has a lot of witnesses, no normal person would try an arson attack in the middle of the day with so many people around. I find it a bit coincidental that you'd live here? Seems obvious to me that someone's trying to get rid of you…"

"Well, the vote of confidence is appreciated, Sonya, thanks."

Both he and his companion turned their gaze as several fully-suited firemen made their way into the still heavily-smoking building whilst others tried battling the flames that still ate away at the exterior at some of the higher levels. His mind moved to Kabal and a question finally asked:

"Why is Kabal with you? He's known to be a bit of a wildcard, you realise? Where the hell is Jax?"

Sonya glanced back to him, a shrug lifting her shoulders. She'd found it quite odd herself that Kabal had sought her group out. He tended to change alliances more often than most people had hot dinners. It was difficult to know whether to trust him or not. He'd once been an assassin in Shao Khan's services, she recollected. After the Emperor's betrayal, after his recovery… well, he'd done his best to fight against him. Needless to say, the man was a little odd – and needed to rely on a respirator these days. At least the gas-mask he wore served to hide his scars away from other people…

"Jax had things to deal with back at headquarters. Kabal… well, he came to HQ, demanded to know where you were and then headed out as soon as he found out where you lived. I followed him…"

"Is he going to be alright in there?"

"Heh… I think so. That respirator feeds him oxygen, doesn't it? I don't think the smoke's going to bother him too much. Not sure how he'll get on with fire. He's quick, though. Can't see him letting a little bit of flame bother him…"

As if on cure, there was a dart of energy, a burst of speed, out the door just as another few firemen were attempting to make their way in. The energy seemed to materialise into a tall figure, clad in a long trench-coat, leather trousers and a red-and-black shirt. Of course, the gas-mask was there too, pulled tight around the back of his head and attached to that pack he carried around with him. Under each arm was an unconscious person. These he deposited with a decided lack of gentleness next to the ambulance. All questions were ignored from the stunned-looking paramedics – instead, he turned away, lifted that hidden gaze up to scan the crowd. It didn't take long for him to catch sight of Sonya and Liu, obviously. He made his deceptively slow way over to them, his trench-coat catching lightly on the summer breeze. Idly, Liu wondered why he insisted on wearing the thing in this heat. He was too hot in the simple t-shirt and trousers he wore, however he guessed that the strange man had his reasons.

"Liu Kang…"

Kabal's voice was muffled, thanks to that gas-mask he wore, and his breathing jagged and hissing. Liu studied the taller man for a few seconds, before offering the slightest bow of respect. Kabal returned it with a nod, his hand rising up to brush longs tendrils of ebony hair back, away from his mask's visor.

"You were looking for me, Kabal?"

"Yes. I have a few things to tell you. However, perhaps in a little less… crowded area."

Sonya merely shrugged and shook her head as Liu cast an almost sceptical gaze to her. He'd mumbled something about Outworld and Rayden as he'd headed back out the door – and her questioning on the way here had yielded little result. Aside from telling her that he'd explain once they got hold of Liu, he'd said nothing else on the matter. She turned her gaze between the two men, allowing her arms to fold absently across her chest.

"Well… I guess we can go back to headquarters…"

And there we go… let's end on a bit of a cliffhanger, shall we? Comments really would be appreciated – especially since I don't think this is very good. :-s


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